Star-Ledger fileFile photo of the Outerbridge Crossing, from the Staten Island side.

The executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey apologized today for what he called a "management failure" that resulted in delays of up to three hours on Easter Sunday for drivers at the Outerbridge Crossing.

Executive Director Christopher Ward said the problem was a manpower shortage that left just one cash lane open at the toll plaza for the span that connects New Jersey with Staten Island.

"Without a doubt, it was a management failure and I take full responsibility for it," Ward told angry commissioners during a morning meeting of the Port Authority’s operations committee.

Later in the day, addressing reporters after the full board’s regular monthly meeting, Ward apologized to the public, acknowledging Sunday’s traffic nightmare was not up to the Port Authority’s usual performance standards.

Ward said the agency plans to fill eight vacant toll collector positions. In addition, he said, agency managers will be given the authority to open E-ZPass lanes to all traffic. To minimize revenue losses, the agency would use cameras already in place to photograph license plates of non-E-ZPass users and then mail them a bill for the toll, Ward said.

"We consider this unacceptable," Port Authority Chairman David Samson said of Sunday’s problem. "We’ve got Mother’s Day coming up. We’ve got Memorial Day coming up. We’ve got the 4th of July. It’s unthinkable that we would have these problems."

Cedric Fulton, the agency’s director of bridges, tunnels and terminals, said the normal contingent of toll collectors for the three Staten Island crossings — the Outerbridge Crossing and Bayonne and Goethals bridges, is 39. But because of the vacancies, there are now 31 collectors, just four above the normal weekend staffing level of 27, Fulton said.

On Sunday, two toll collectors called in sick, and others were unavailable because they recently worked overtime shifts and were prevented by union rules from being forced to work.

Ward, who dismissed rumors of a "sick-out," said the vacancies were the result of a recent buyout offer, part of a overall staff reduction of 200 Port Authority employees in the agency’s 2011 budget.